STATEMENT OF SEN. LEILA M. DE LIMA IN COMMEMORATION OF INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE VICTIMS OF ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE

Today the world observes the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance as institutionalized in the 2010 General Assembly Resolution of the United Nations. I join this day of remembrance to honor the lives of each individual victim of enforced disappearance, many of whom were human rights defenders in their respective countries.

In the Philippines, there are about 2,344 reported victims with the highest data during the years of Marcos dictatorship. We have become familiar with the cases of Jonas Burgos, Sheryl Cadapan, Karen Empeno, and the numerous recent victims of the sham drug war of Rodrigo Duterte. In the 2017 Universal Periodic Review of the Philippines, member states of the United Nations Human Rights Council recommended some remedial measures, including the ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

In 2012, Republic Act No. 10353, or the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012, was enacted. Besides criminalizing enforced disappearance as an egregious act against life and personal security, it also underscores the constitutional authority of the Commission on Human Rights to undertake unannounced visits to places of detention and confinement, an important mechanism to ensure that persons deprived of liberty, including those arbitrarily arrested and detained, would remain alive and safe from torture or any degrading treatment.

As we remember the missing, let us endeavor for a better world for all of us, where there is no place for fear and violence. Let us work together in crafting and promoting laws and internationally recognized standards that fully respect the dignity of every human person. Let us all strive for a world without the desaparecidos.